MFA submitted a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to supplement previous comments on the SEC’s February 2022 proposed amendments to Form PF and the Commissions’ joint proposed amendments to Form PF. MFA shared concern that the September Proposed Rules would make several changes to Form PF without the SEC having assessed the effects of those proposed on the February Proposed Rules.
As such, there is not sufficient opportunity for public review and comment on those aspects of the September Proposed Rules that would affect the February Proposed Rules. For this reason, MFA believes the SEC should remedy this gap by analyzing the effects of the September Proposed Rules on the February Proposed Rules and provide an opportunity for public review and comment on that analysis before proceeding to any final rules. However, if the SEC is determined to proceed with adopting the February Proposed Rules without assessing the effect of the September Proposed Rules on those amendments and offering the public an opportunity to comment, MFA believes it is critical that the SEC appreciate the ways in which the Proposals are intertwined and the significant challenges involved with implementing these two sets of amendments to Form PF. MFA does not believe the SEC should adopt the February Proposed Rules and require firms to comply with any of the new rules prior to the Commissions jointly adopting the September Proposed Rules.
Instead, MFA believes the SEC should require compliance with the Proposals at the same time, and because of the significant challenges involved with implementing these two sets of amendments to Form PF, we recommend that the Commissions provide an implementation period of 24 months from the later of the adoption of the February Proposed Rules or the September Proposed Rules.
